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PERSONAL NARRATIVES 


OF EVENTS IN TFIE 

War of the Rebellion. 


No. 9. Second Series. 



PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN, 

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HORATIO ROGERS. 






























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PERSONAL NARRATIVES 


OF EVENTS IN THE 

V/ar of the Rebellion, 


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No. 9. . . . Second Series. 



PROVIDENCE : 

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1881. 




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PERSONAL EXPERIENCES 


OF THE 


CHANCELLORSVILLE 


CAMPAIGN. 


BY 


HORATIO ROGERS, 

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[LATE COLONEL SECOND RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS, BREVET BRIGADIER 

GENERAL U. S. V.] 




PROVIDENCE: 

N . BANGS WILLIAMS & CO. 

1881. 











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Copyrighted by 
N. BANGS WILLIAMS. 
1881 . 


PRINTED BY E. L. FREEMAN & CO. 



PERSONAL EXPERIENCES 


OP THE 

Chancellorsville Campaign. 


[Read before the Society, June 16 , 1880 .] 

Hurled back from the heights of Fredericksburg 
on the memorable thirteenth of December, 1862, the 
Army of the Potomac, baffled and discomfited, had 
retired to the north side of the Rappahannock, and 
there sat down to watch its victorious foe. In those 
days of McClellan hero-worship, the Army of the 
Potomac was a dreary place for a general who pro¬ 
posed to advance boldly on the enemy, instead of 
cautiously proceeding with a spade in one hand and 
a pick-axe in the other, by a tardy system of par¬ 
allels and circumvallations. General Burnside had 
realized it, as he was thwarted not less by his own 


6 


PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE 


generals than by the common enemy and, with his 
Ninth Corps, had withdrawn from Virginia to the 
south-west. General 11 Joe ” Hooker had succeeded 
to that slaughter-house of the fame of hitherto suc¬ 
cessful generals — the Army of the Potomac, and 
all of us who belonged to that army were looking 
forward with different degrees of anticipation, to 
the approach of May, when the peculiar soil of Vir¬ 
ginia would permit the transportation of artillery and 
of heavy trains. 

The camp of the Second Rhode Island, surrounded 
by the other regiments of the Sixth Corps, was back 
of and a little below Falmouth, about two miles from 
the Rappahannock. It presented a rather pictur¬ 
esque appearance, located as it was on a gentle de¬ 
clivity, with its tents all banked or walled up for a 
couple of feet at least, while the left companies ex¬ 
tended into a belt of woods through which the parade 
was reached. Back of all, the regimental headquar¬ 
ters, environed by an artificial evergreen hedge, 
opened into a little courtyard protected from the 
gaze of the enlisted men. Adjoining each tent, and 
rising two feet, more or less, above it, was a pile of 


C H AN CELLO RS VILLE CAMPAIGN. 


7 


split fagots laid cross-wise, out of which smoke 
curled, and which presented a most incendiary ap¬ 
pearance, as it seemed as if very ample arrange¬ 
ments had been made to fire the whole camp. Not¬ 
withstanding the seeming incongruity, however, 
these apparently inflammable structures were the 
chimneys of the camp, and, plastered well inside 
with Virginia mud as they were, served their purpose 
admirably. 

After the regiment was fairly settled in winter 
quarters, the weeks passed peaceably enough so far 
as the enemy were concerned, though not without 
interest to that particular organization. The monot¬ 
ony of camp life, with its drills and its gossip, was 
broken at intervals by a three days tour of picket. 
The regiment and its colonel did not always serve 
together, as a general officer had charge of the 
Sixth Corps line, while under him a colonel com¬ 
manded the detail of each division. One of these 
occasions had an eventful, not to say serious, termin¬ 
ation for the writer. It was in March and I was in 
charge of the picket line of the Third Division of 
the Sixth Corps, which was stretched along the bank 


8 


PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE 


of the Rappahannock below Falmouth, looking to¬ 
wards Fredericksburg. .The tour passed off very 
pleasantly till the last night, when I was seized with 
malaria, previous attacks of which in South Carolina 
had threatened to prove fatal to me, and the next day 
I arrived in camp a sick man. After struggling 
with the disease for some days I was sent to Rhode 
Island by the medical director of the division, Dr. 
Carr, our regimental surgeon being absent on leave, 
and few believed that I would long survive. Home 
and home care had a most salutary effect, so, as April 
was rapidly passing and the papers were, filled with 
rumors that the Army of the Potomac was to move 
at once as Hooker - was impatient to strike the 
enemy, I started for the army before I had entirely 
recovered, despite the earnest protests and remon¬ 
strances of friends and family physician, fully deter¬ 
mined that the Second Rhode Island should not go 
into action without its colonel at its head. Having 
telegraphed my coming to the regiment, I was met at 
the depot by quite a cavalcade of officers and es¬ 
corted to headquarters, and never did the camp of 
the Second Rhode Island, which I had risked so much 


CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. 


9 


to reach, look more picturesque to me than on that 
April morning with the air full of rumors of an ap¬ 
proaching campaign. As there was now no time to 
indulge in the “ luxury of sickness,” the excitement 
of preparation and the anticipation of coming events 
completed my cure. 

The Army of the Potomac, however, did not 
move for several days after my return, and during 
that interval our brigade changed commanders, as 
General Devens, now the Attorney-General of the 
United States, was promoted to a division in the 
Eleventh Qorps. When he took his departure most 
of the mounted officers of the brigade, myself among 
the number, escorted him far on the way to his new 
command. He left us much to the regret of all 
who were serving under him, as he had deeply im¬ 
pressed us all with the nobleness of his character, 
and it is not too much to say that he will carry with 
him through life the affection and respect of every 
member of that brigade. Colonel Brown, of the 
Thirty-sixth New York, being the ranking officer, at 
once assumed command of the brigade, and after 
days of expectancy, days filled with all sorts of ru- 


10 


PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE 


mors and reports, the orders to move, so long and so 
anxiously waited for, came at last. 

On Tuesday, April twenty-eighth, we broke camp, 
and all my soldier hearers will fully realize what that 
implies. Numerous odds and ends that collect in 
winter quarters, various appliances sent from home, 
superfluous clothing that overflows the narrow limits 
of an army valise, and a myriad of little nameless 
things that one does not wish to abandon, had been 
expressed to Washington or to Rhode Island at the 
earliest rumors of moving ; but when the orders ac¬ 
tually came, there was hurry and bustle, neverthe¬ 
less, as tents had to be struck and packed, the sep¬ 
aration had to be made of what was to go on the 
wagons, which no one knew when we were to see 
again, and what was to go on our own or on our ser¬ 
vants’ backs, or, if mounted officers, on our spare 
horses; and finally the men had to be got into line, a 
job by no means easy, as each had some last thing 
to do, which it seems to be an invariable rule with 
every old soldier not to do till the very last fraction 
of a second. At last when the regiment moved off, 
what a caravan it was. It almost makes one laugh 


CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. 


11 


to think of it. Every soldier had his gun and equip¬ 
ments, of course, but then, too, swinging on one 
side of him, he had a big haversack stuffed full of ra¬ 
tions, as he was presumed to start with enough for 
eight days, which the Lord only knew how he was 
to carry. A canteen swung on his other side, while 
in a big roll, usually encircling him from the shoul¬ 
der on one side to below the waist on the other, re¬ 
minding one of Laocoon in the toils of the serpent, 
was his shelter tent, rubber and woolen blankets. 
Last but by no means least in this nomadic outfit, 
was the invariable tin cup holding a quart or possi¬ 
bly three pints, which was suspended from some¬ 
where, just as it happened, and which served as a 
drinking cup and as a kettle to make coffee in. Fol¬ 
lowing the regiment proper, came a gipsy looking 
band of servants loaded in most fantastic style with 
whatever could minister to the support or necessi¬ 
ties of man, while the mounted officers’ spare horses 
afforded as miscellaneous an appearance as could pos¬ 
sibly greet the eye. Don Quixote’s Rosinante and 
Sancho Panza and his ass, were aristocrats in ap¬ 
pearance, compared with this motley crew. The 


12 


PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE 


Second Rhode Island, be it understood, was but a 
representative of every other regiment in the army. 

After the Second was formed it joined the rest of 
the brigade and then waited a long time for the or¬ 
ders to march. While it thus waited very diverse 
thoughts were running through the minds of the dif¬ 
ferent members of that regiment. Not only had the 
Army of the Potomac changed leaders since it moved 
last, but the Second Rhode Island had changed com¬ 
manders twice in the same period. The colonel was 
a new man to the regiment, and he and his field offi¬ 
cers were all new to their present positions. When 
Colonel Wheaton became a brigadier in December, 
1862, the lieutenant colonel and major were both, 
properly enough, advanced a grade ; but the eleva¬ 
tion of Chaplain Jameson to the majority proved a 
veritable apple of discord in the regiment, it being 
the general opinion that the chaplain who had started 
out ostensibly to serve his God, had ended by very 
effectually serving himself. The result of the em¬ 
bittered contention that ensued was an entire 
change of field officers, so, when the new colonel 
came from another organization, his coming was a 


CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. 


13 


disappointment to some and a pleasure to none, for 
while the officers with rare exceptions desired him 
to remain in command, it was only as a choice of evils. 
As we halted there patiently awaiting events, the 
regiment eyed its colonel to see what manner of man 
he was, and wondered whether, in the test by which 
he was about to be tried, he would be found wanting. 
The colonel, on the other hand, sat astride his horse 
coolly watching his officers and men, and on his part 
wondering whether they were ready to follow wher¬ 
ever he might dare to lead. 

About three o’clock in the afternoon, after much 
halting and waiting, we proceeded down nearly to 
the bank of the Rappahannock, bivouacking for the 
night in a ravine concealed from the view of the en¬ 
emy. Soon after daylight the next morning (Wed¬ 
nesday, April twenty-ninth), the regiment, accom¬ 
panying the brigade, wound down the road nearest 
the river, to nearly opposite the ruins of the Ber¬ 
nard house, and there we lay all day Wednesday, 
Thursday, Friday and a part of Saturday. Our post 
was at the head of the pontoon bridge below Fred¬ 
ericksburg, where we acted as a sort of guard, with 


14 


PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE 


nothing to do but to watch and wait. The air was 
filled with rumors, and at last came printed orders 
from General Hooker, announcing, in rather grand¬ 
iloquent terms, some early successes on first cross¬ 
ing the river. 

The First, Third and Sixth Corps, under General 
Sedgwick, formed the left wing, but now the Third 
Corps was detached and sent to General Hooker, and 
then the First Corps, while the rest of us lay on 
the river bank and wondered. At night the sky was 
lurid with burning houses or material, and the heavens 
were literally lighted with the torch of war. The 
effect of all these rumors by day and of the lurid 
glare at night was to exhilarate some, and to rouse all 
manner of apprehensions in others. It certainly did 
not have an assuring effect upon weak nerves. 

At length we crossed the river about half-past 
nine Saturday evening (May second), and as we did 
not reach Fredericksburg, but three miles distant, 
till the dawn of day, my hearers can readily imagine 
how much dreary halting and waiting we did. We 
lay in the streets of Fredericksburg till eleven 
o’clock in the morning, when we were ordered up 


CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. 


15 


above the town to support our Rhode Island Battery 
B., Captain T. Fred Brown, of the Second Corps,* 
which was playing on the enemy. The beauty of that 
scene I shall never forget. Battery B occupied the 
crest of a ridge, just below which in the rear was 
the Second Rhode Island in line of battle. Behind 
and below us on our left, was the town of Fred¬ 
ericksburg, seeming strangely out of place with its 
peaceful appearing mansions, from the door of one of 
which a refined looking elderly lady furtively peered 
at us as we passed. Before us and stretching far on 
either hand was an intervale through which we had 
an unobstructed view, while beyond that again, di¬ 
rectly in our front and extending a long distance, 
was a ridge occupied by the rebels, and known as 
Marye’s Heights. A creek ran between us and them, 
across which, so far as I could see, was a single road 
and bridge, and this was quite a little distance to 
our left though in plain sight. This road, where it 
crossed the bridge and extended through a cut up 

♦This battery belonged to General Gibbon’s division of the Second Corps. 
General Sedgwick in his examination before the Committee on the Conduct of 
the War, says: “General Gibbon’s division belonged to the Second Corps, but 
was ordered to cross and report to me at Fredericksburg.” 



16 


PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE 


the hill on the other side, was known as 11 the slaugh¬ 
ter-pen ” in Burnside’s attack the previous Decern* 
ber, and well it deserved the name. 

The opposing batteries on the opposite ridges 
boomed awav at one another vigorously, and while 
Captain Brown seemed to get his shell in among the 
rebels most successfully, they were not able to de¬ 
press their guns sufficiently to harm him. Pres¬ 
ently our Rhode Island Battery G, Captain George 
W. Adams, came thundering up alongside of Captain 
Brown, and went into action on his right. Soon after, 
a column of infantry poured out from Fredericks¬ 
burg up through the slaughter-pen into the smoke 
of the rebel batteries and battalions that encircled 
them. Oh, how the cannon roared and the musketry 
rattled, and what a terrible suspense, though only 
for a moment. Then a loud cheer broke forth, and 
we could see the rebels breaking away in all direc¬ 
tions from that road and getting to the rear. What 
was now to be done with the Second Rhode Island, 
was the question that presented itself to me. Evi¬ 
dently the batteries needed no further support, and 
as a constant stream of troops was pouring through 


CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. 


17 


the slaughter-pen and generals were scarce in my 
locality, I deemed it a safe rule of conduct, in the 
absence of orders, to always go for a rebel when I 
saw one, especially when he was trying to get away, 
so I started the old Second along. Our passage 
through the slaughter-pen, with its dead and dying 
scattered around, at once showed but too plainly how 
well it deserved its name; and after chasing reb¬ 
els awhile on the extreme right, one of General 
Gibbon’s aides ordered me to report back to my 
brigade, which I found on the plank road, a mile or 
so west of Marye’s Heights. 

We pushed westward along the plank road in the 
direction of Chancellorsville, and as our brigade 
formed the very rear of the Sixth Corps, the Second 
Rhode Island was the extreme rear regiment of the 
whole column. We went along peaceably enough for 
three or four miles, until we approached a little range 
of hills, when we halted and rebel shell roared un¬ 
comfortably over our heads. A shell bursting in the 
air directly over my head, was one of the things I 
could never take kindly to. Of all the fiendish, in¬ 
fernal, diabolical, devilish noises I ever heard, that is 


18 


PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE 


the worst. It seemed as if the devil must be in it, 
and was making a terrible racket in getting out. 
Though I am not an expert in that sort of thing, I 
always fancied it sounded as might a summons from 
hell, and, I am free to say, I never liked it. It was 
apparent that we had found obstacles, and that the 
rebels were in force in our front. We halted quite 
a little while for the regiments on our right to form 
in line of battle, and then we advanced again by the 
flank. At last we halted with the rest of our brigade, 
and one after another of our regiments was marched 
off. A battle was going on directly in our front, and 
it seemed as if the Sixth Corps was getting the worst 
of it. Finally, the Tenth Massachusetts, which was 
just ahead of us, started off, and the Second was left 
all alone on the the plank road with directions, as it 
was in reserve, to wait for orders. It seemed to me 
like being on a sinking, burning ship, and told to stand 
quietly by until some one should come and tell me to 
do something for the common weal. It was clear 
that some of our troops were panic-stricken and that 
the line had given way somewhere. From the front 
and right of us a constant stream of men were 


CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. 


19 


thronging to the rear, with every indication of utter 
demoralization. As they went, they threw away 
their guns, and tore off their equipments and threw 
them away also. 1 had seen retreats, but I had never 
before seen the like of this. It seemed as if Bedlam 
had broken loose and chaos reigned supreme. Then 
a battery directly before us, and but a short distance 
off, limbered up in a trice and went to the rear as if 
it, too, had been smitten by a demon. I sat quietly 
on my horse and wondered where in the world were 
the orders I was told to wait for, and when, in the 
name of common sense, could reserves be more 
wanted than then. The steadiness with which the 
regiment had patiently halted on the very threshold 
of that battle-field, and witnessed the demoralizing 
scenes around it, was certainly very remarkable, and 
required more real nerve than actually participating 
in the battle itself; but we we had not long to wait. 

Just after the battery thundered to the rear, a few 
dust-covered, bedraggled-looking horsemen came di¬ 
rectly down the road, and not till the leader got close 
to me did I discover him to be General Newton, and 
as I was a comparatively new comer in the Army of 


20 


PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE 


the Potomac, it is doubtful if he recognized me. 
Drawing rein as he reached me, he inquired, u What 
regiment is this, Colonel?” “ The Second Rhode 
Island, sir,” I replied, 11 directed to wait here for or¬ 
ders.” “ Colonel,” said General Newton, in a deeply 
earnest voice, “ form here and go to the right of that 
house, close to the woods ”—indicating the direction 
with his hand—“ we are being badly driven, hurry 
up and help them.” We had been marching up the 
road by the right flank and had simply halted a little 
before reaching the ridge on which the battle was 
raging. Forming a line on the right of the road, for 
the point indicated by General Newton was appar¬ 
ently on the extreme right of our line of battle, I 
advanced the regiment, wheeling gradually all the 
time to the left in the arc of a circle, so that we 
might come into action on a prolongation of our main 
formation of battle, as the Union line was formed in 
an oblique direction to the road. 

As the Second came up, there was still a strong 
drift of affrighted men to the rear, and a broken bat¬ 
talion of Pennsylvania Dutchmen came pell-mell, as 
if they were going to run over us. I shall never 


CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. 


21 


fail to remember the advance of the Second Rhode 
Island. It surpassed its ordinary self, for it swept 
up, battalion front, despite its distracting surround¬ 
ings, as steadily and well aligned as if on parade, 
and the broken Dutchmen, seeing but little chance 
of breaking through there, gave it a wide detour, 
assisted by some of our' field officers, who, from the 
backs of their horses, with their heavy cavalry sa¬ 
bres, knocked some of the flying cowards head-over- 
heels. As we reached the ridge a wild scene un¬ 
folded itself, for it was apparent that the right of our 
first line of battle had been broken to pieces and 
hurled back in confusion, which explained the panic 
we had seen, and that the Second Brigade of the 
Third Division had been hastily pushed in to stop 
the advance of the victorious rebels. Fortunately, 
that brigade had been equal to the emergency. The 
formation of the ground was such that it would not 
admit a regiment in prolongation of the existing line 
of battle, and when the Second Rhode Island at¬ 
tempted to join on the Tenth Massachusetts, on 
the extreme right, all but the three left companies 
were thrown down hill in such a manner as not to be 


22 


PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE 


able to see the rebels at all. Accordingly, I ordered 
the regiment entirely clear of that hill, a little for¬ 
ward and to the right, across a brook and up another 
hill, where we unexpectedly found ourselves, owing 
to the peculiar angle of our main line of battle, much 
more detached from the rest of our troops and 
in their advance, than had been intended. But, 
whatever the colonel may have thought or intended, 
the boys as they now had plenty of rebs in their im¬ 
mediate front, improved the opportunity to relieve 
their long pent up nerves and to blaze away as fast 
as they knew how. The three left companies had 
been too busy firing to heed the orders to advance 
with the rest of the regiment, and hence I had but 
the seven right companies, with the lieutenant- 
colonel, with me, the major with the three left com¬ 
panies having remained on the right of the Tenth 
Massachusetts, actively engaged in emptying the 
barrels of their muskets at the rebels. A portion of 
the Fifteenth New Jersey, which had formed a part 
of the first line of battle, came up and were formed 
on our right. 

The scene then was a noticeable one. On our left, 


CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. 


23 


a little distance off, was our main line of battle op¬ 
posed to the rebel line ; then, with quite a gap be¬ 
tween, came the Second Rhode Island, off beyond 
both lines of battle but advanced far beyond a pro¬ 
longation of the Union line, and opposite the Second 
was a broken mass of rebels that had stretched out 
over the space between the left of their present line 
and the right of our original or shattered line. The 
rebs in our front retreated before us, and it was 
evident that our movement was neither rel¬ 
ished nor understood. Way across an open field, 
well to our right and in front of us, an American flag 
fluttered in the edge of some woods, and raised the 
suspicion that the rebels were playing another 
Fair Oaks trick by attempting to deceive us with 
false colors. It was, however, in the precise 
direction of our first line of battle, and about where 
its right undoubtedly rested. Presently a first 
lieutenant came running across the field, making a 
wide circuit to avoid the rebs, and, greatlyexcited, 
rushed breathless up to me, announcing himself as the 
adjutant of a New Jersey regiment in the woods 
there where the American colors were, stating that 


24 


PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE 


it formed the right of the first line of battle, that the 
rest of the line having been broken had left it in the 
woods heavily engaged, nearly surrounded and almost 
out of ammunition, and begging me in the most ear¬ 
nest terms to go over and help them out. Here was 
a quandary, indeed. Already I was far in advance of 
our main line, and an enigma to the rebels and prob¬ 
ably a source of anxiety to our own people. How¬ 
ever, general officers were not around, and General 
Newton had given me a sort of roving commission; 
at least, I proposed to treat it so, and here was a case 
that demanded action. The prompt reply to the dis¬ 
tressed lieutenant was “ I will go;” but the next 
question was how to go, for it is no easy job to stop 
a line of battle when firing and advance it in the 
nature of a charge. Though I was satisfied the 
broken bodies of rebs in front of us would retreat 
before a resolute advance, yet in the din of battle the 
human voice can not be heard ten feet, and mere 
verbal orders would be of little account to effect the 
desired purpose. 

When a captain in the Third Rhode Island, I had 
seen the difficulty of charging with a line of battle, 


CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. 


25 


at Secessionville in South Carolina, though gallantly 
accomplished at last by Colonel Edwin Metcalf, then 
a major in command of a battalion. An infantry colo¬ 
nel’s position, according to tactics, is thirty-five paces 
back of the file-closers in rear of the centre of his 
line ; but, if I had proposed to myself to occupy that 
position, I might about as well have been in Rhode 
Island for all the good I could have done. So, when 
an advance was determined on, I directed Lieutenant 
Colonel Read to go along the front of the regiment 
from the right, while I did the same thing on the 
left, and knock up the men’s pieces with his sword, 
at the same time ordering the officers to aid in stop¬ 
ping the firing and in advancing the line, by taking 
positions in front of their men, just as they would on 
dress parade,, when ranks were opened, and 
follow the colonel. The excited nerves of 
the men would induce them to stop and fire, 
unless by so doing they would shoot their offi¬ 
cers, but they would follow without a shot if their 
officers only led, rapidity of motion being essential 
to success. It was a novel formation for an infantry 
advance, but it answered the purpose, as we reached 


26 


PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE 


the woods quickly, and the rebels prudently got out 
of the way. It was a sore enigma to the left of the 
rebel line of battle, who did not understand it at all, 
as it might be some sort of a flank movement, or 
something else, but what it was they certainly did 
not know. Our own people were equally at a loss to 
understand it, and Colonel Eustis, of the Tenth Mass¬ 
achusetts, who, when Colonel Brown of the Thirty- 
sixth New York was shot, succeeded to the command 
of our brigade, exclaimed—“ Oh, my God ! there 
goes Colonel Rogers and the Second Rhode Island 
without any support.” Never was a man more glad 
to see another than was that New Jersey colonel to 
see that Rhode Island one. He said his ammunition 
was about exhausted, and he wished to know how he 
should get out of there. So the Second formed 
directly behind him, and his regiment fell through 
our ranks. 

The next thing was to get out myself, for the fire 
was withering, the rebels being at close musket shot 
and having a wicker fence for a partial protection. 
Our boys lay as flat to mother earth as they could get 
and fire, and fearful that the rebels would make a 


CHANCELLORSYILLE CAMPAIGN. 


27 


rush when we retreated, I sent Lieutenant-Colonel 
Read back for my three left companies, and also 
begged him to get another regiment if he could; 
and I added this inane injunction: 11 Now, Read, be 
careful, and don’t be such a fool as to get shot.” It 
is true my major was not with me, and I was just 
sending off my lieutenant-colonel, when, if anything 
happened to me, his services would be needed in the 
woods, but I had not the slightest fear of being shot, 
and I felt that my captains were all capable. I really 
only expected to get my three left companies, and 
wished some one to go who would pilot them where 
we were and who could speak, as it were, with 
authority. Meanwhile, the rebs and the Second 
were firing away at each other in the liveliest possible 
manner, and I verily believe that some of the boys 
fancied they understood what the prophet Isaiah 
meant when he said: “ Hell hath enlarged herself 
and opened her mouth without measure,” and that 
they thought they were then in the enlargement re¬ 
ferred to. It was hardly to be expected that men 
would stand under such a withering fire without re¬ 
coiling a little, so from time to time the flags would 


28 PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE 

be carried forward, and right gallantly would the 
men rally upon them and go at it again. At last, 
after half an hour, or perhaps more, and it certainly 
seemed longer, I ordered the regiment to fall back 
steadily, believing that the lieutenant-colonel had 
had time to bring us relief if he was able to do it. 
As we got to the edge of the woods we gave the 
rebs three parting cheers, and there we found our 
three left companies and the Tenth Massachusetts, 
under Colonel Eustis. The battle was over and the 
rebs had fallen back, so that the field was much 
clearer than when we came across. Colonel Eustis 
ordered the Second to the rear without delay, 
and himself set the example by marching off the 
Tenth Massachusetts; but I could not bear to leave 
our brave wounded comrades in the woods without 
an effort to recover them, and as the rebs had shown 
no disposition to pursue us, I ordered each captain 
to send ten men under a sergeant into the woods and 
bring off all the wounded they could find, and waited 
for them to do it. Then we followed the Tenth 
Massachusetts, at some distance, back across the field 
to the house whence we started. Ammunition was 


CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. 


29 


served to us on the field, and we lay there in the 
front line of battle with one eye open the entire 
night, but all was quiet. 

The next morning we had some mournful duties to 
perform, and we commenced the day with burying two 
first sergeants who had fallen the day before, and 
whom we laid tenderly away under a large tree with 
their blankets as their winding-sheets. Then came 
calling the roll to make up the casualty list, and no 
one present will ever forget it. We lay there inline 
of battle, ready fur the enemy, and each company 
was called in presence of the regiment. About a 
hundred were either killed or wounded, but as some 
had only slight hurts the list was reduced to eighty- 
three out of less than five hundred taken into action. 
As each name was called, the bearer, if present, 
answered, “ Here,” and if he was hurt he so re¬ 
ported and his case was looked into. If, however, 
there was no response, inquiry was made as to the 
reason why, and the report of an eye witness would 
furnish the sad evidence of death or conveyance to 
the hospital. But some names were called which 
were not answered to, and about the bearers of which 


30 


PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE 


no testimony could be elicited. Of some of the poor 
boys no intelligence has been gained from that day 
to this. The simple recital would be by one or 
another of his comrades—“ I saw him go into the 
woods, sir, with his company.” We all drew the 
grim deduction that he never came out. 

All that day we lay in line of battle by the house, 
and the air was heavy with rumor. Stonewall Jack- 
son had swept around our left flank and captured 
Fredericksburg; General Hooker was in full retreat, 
and some thought the Sixth Corps’ prospect of going 
to Richmond was remarkably good, but not with arms 
in their hands. Army croakers are a doleful set, and 
the corps was full of them. Early in the afternoon 
heavy firing was heard off to our right, as we were, 
so to speak, in a bag, and the rebels were trying to 
close the mouth of it, while General Sedgwick sought 
to keep it open and preserve a passage to Banks 
ford, several miles up the river, where a pontoon 
bridge was laid across the Rappahannock, the bridges 
at and below Fredericksburg having been severed 
at the time of Stonewall Jackson’s raid. Every one 
looked sober and felt as he looked. Our sole hope of 


CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. 


31 


salvation lay in preserving communication with 
Banks ford, which was disputed the whole after¬ 
noon. After nightfall troops were passing us con¬ 
tinually, going from the left to the extreme right, up 
the river in retreat to Banks ford. As the Second 
Rhode Island was on the right of the line, it was the 
last to start, and it seemed to some as if it never 
would start. Finally, when the time came to go, no 
one stopped to question the reason why, but went at 
once. The march to Banks ford was a race of dil¬ 
igence between us and the rebs, and the rebel col¬ 
umn marched along parallel with us. At times, it 
seemed to me, it was not more than a hundred yards 
distant, but we were nearest the river, and when the 
reb^ found that they could not head us off, they began 
to shell us. We got safely over the Rappahannock, 
and every one breathed easier. Not far from three 
o’clock in the morning, we stumbled into bivouac as 
well as we could, a mile or two from the river bank, 
and slept till daylight. 

Tuesday was hot and sultry, as the Second had 
ample opportunity to find out, as about noon the 
regiment was ordered down to Banks ford to guard 


32 


PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE 


the pontoons, some of which had been hauled up on 
the river bank—a service the general informed me 
was of the utmost importance and required unceas¬ 
ing vigilance. The hot Virginia sun wilted several of 
the officers and men on the march, and the rebels, see¬ 
ing us approach, burst shell over us till we reached 
the cover of the woods skirting the river. The pon¬ 
toons had been placed in the narrowest part of the 
stream, and it seemed as if the rebel pickets on the 
other bank were only a few hundred feet away. In¬ 
deed, we were so near that we could distinguish the 
features of several rebel officers who came down to 
the river brink to look across but, though we were 
so near, neither offered to molest the other. There 
we lay for several days, and at times it rained in tor¬ 
rents, so we had to serve as clothes-horses a part of 
the time to dry our wet garments on, as we had 
nothing with us but what we stood in. Rarely 
have I ever had a heavier burden of responsibility 
resting upon me than those pontoons, as my orders 
were, if the enemy attempted to cross, to fight to 
the last man, and the rebels were so near and flushed 
with victory, and it seemed so easy for them to 


CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. 


33 


cross, that the orders appeared terribly significant. 

At last the Second Rhode Island was relieved, and 
marched back nearly to its old location below Fal¬ 
mouth, after an absence from it of eleven days, in 
which we had not taken off our clothes, and for more 
than a week I did not even take off my boots. The 
generals were unanimous in the expression that the 
Second Rhode Island had done its whole duty; its 
old commander, General Wheaton, said it had added 
another bright leaf to its already brilliant record; 
and the General Assembly of Rhode Island tendered 
it a vote of thanks for its gallant conduct. There¬ 
after neither regiment nor colonel wasted any more 
time in wondering about the other, and thence¬ 
forward the latter ceased to be regarded as a 
stranger, and was looked upon as a fully initiated 
Second Rhode Islander. 




























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